The grim times continue for the craft beer industry, as the SF-born brewery 21st Amendment has announced it is shutting down for good, and both the South Beach SF taproom and San Leandro brewery will close in November.

It was more terrible news for craft beer fans on Thursday, as the beer industry publication Brewbound broke the news that the San Francisco brewery 21st Amendment will permanently close both its original Second Street taproom location, and the San Leandro brewery that was one of the largest in the Bay Area.  The Chronicle has follow-up reporting that both locations' final day will be November 4.

21st Amendment was among the early wave of craft brewers on the SF scene, way back during the dot-com boom, and the closure news comes barely a month after the brewery's 25th anniversary.

"The craft beer world has changed a lot since we opened in 2000, and we are proud of the role we played in shaping it," co-founder Shaun O’Sullivan said in a statement to the SF Business Times. "While this chapter is closing, I hope our story inspires the next generation of brewers and dreamers."

21st Amednment's demise is a familiar story in the craft brewing sector. As has been widely discussed, young people don’t drink like they used to, and those that do are leaning more toward canned cocktails and lower-calories hard seltzers — a trend that is impacting wine sales as well. Aluminum tariffs are also a heavy load for the all-canned brewer 21st Amendment. O’Sullivan told the Chronicle that sales have dropped a full 20% every single year since 2021.  

The company has faint hopes of funding a buyer, and the statement to the Business Times adds that the brewery is "exploring opportunities to continue the 21st Amendment brand in new ways."

21st Amendment opened in 2000 at their Second Street location, right as the new Giants ballpark, then called Pac Bell Park, was reviving the South Beach neighborhood. The company grew and grew, expanding to put their brewing operations at a giant former Kellogg's factory in San Leandro by 2014. The Chronicle notes that during that period, “21st Amendment became one of the nation’s top 50 craft breweries by volume,” and was 26th in the country by volume from 2016 to 2019.

But it appears there was some recent tumult at the top for 21st Amendment in recent weeks.

Just last week, O’Sullivan announced on Facebook that “After 25 incredible years since opening the 21st Amendment and nearly 30 years since Nico and I first dreamed up the idea, we are both stepping away from the 21A’s day-to-day operations. We’ve brought in a new CEO through a new partnership aimed at bringing in suppliers both inside and outside the beer space.”

But then just Friday morning, O’Sullivan posted that "in a bizarre and unexpected turn of events late last week, the decision was made that the 21st Amendment will be winding down operations for the foreseeable future.”

Those words make it sound like this was not O'Sullivan's call. The Chronicle’s reporting indicates that it was a bank or lender’s call, and that paper says “The brewery’s lender informed them that it would no longer fund the company due to its ‘cash bleed,’ prompting the decision to close.”

Who knows, maybe some deep-pocketed white knight will step in to save the 21st Amendment brewery and/or taproom. But even that scenario has not led to a swift turnaround for Anchor Brewing, and the future of craft beer seems hazier and hazier.

Related: Dogpatch's Harmonic Brewing to Shut Down This Fall, Stop Brewing Beer [SFist]

Image: 21st Amendment Brewery via Facebook